


things that are beautiful and transient

by kxrapikaz



Series: leopika oneshots/drabbles/ficlets [5]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Character Study, Fluff and Angst, M/M, more of a character study than anything else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26579863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kxrapikaz/pseuds/kxrapikaz
Summary: hi i posted this from my phone after gym class i hate it here
Relationships: Leorio Paladiknight/Kurapika
Series: leopika oneshots/drabbles/ficlets [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799050
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	things that are beautiful and transient

Kurapika is all coldness and sharp edges and the rough grinding of metal against metal. Physical comfort isn’t something that he’d been able to tolerate for a long time following the death of his family, and mostly he’d been okay with that. Kurapika’s love language is something almost lost to him. He’s spent too long without anybody to love as fiercely as he would like to, and when he’s thrust into an exam with two twelve year olds - one entirely reckless and atrociously sweet, the other cool and reserved yet fiery in his love - and a gangly doctor wannabe with a penchant for women and material goods and perhaps the biggest heart he’s ever come across, he doesn’t know how to react. It takes hardly a week for Leorio to weasel his way into Kurapika’s undoubtedly frigid heart. Not even seven days, and he’s broken the pact he made with himself when he was thirteen. Leorio, he supposes, is just one of those people; despite his brashness and his frankly awful temper and his nasty habit of acting before he thinks, Leorio is  _ kind.  _ Kurapika doesn’t remember the last time he’d met somebody so truly altruistic. 

And really, that’s what Leorio is; he gives so much and asks for so little in return, and he’s patient and loyal to a fault. Leorio is truly a good man, and Kurapika wishes he could do more to deserve his presence. Yet Leorio still chooses  _ him _ , despite having the option to pick one of the Zodiacs, or his co-workers at the hospital, or any of the single parents at the school that Killua and Gon attend. Leorio chooses Kurapika, and he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

Sometimes, whilst Leorio is at work and whilst the kids are all at school and Kurapika has finished cooking dinner, he sits in his study, and broods. Lithe and slender fingers toy with the wedding band on his left hand, his mind vaguely aware of the cuff of his scarlet drop earring on his ear as he allows his head to hang. Sitting like this, the sky heavy with clouds and his knees spread and his back hunched uncomfortably beneath one of Leorio’s sweaters, reminds him of the months following his time in Yorknew City. He knows he will not be able to forget the sheer numbness he felt, the salted iron smell of blood clinging to his clothing and his skin for days after each encounter with the Spider, the guilt that sat festering and growing in the pit of his stomach, entirely buried beneath his own selfish rage. Sometimes that guilt returns, sharp-toothed as it gnaws at his stomach and crawls, bubbling up his throat and streaming down his cheeks in hot rivulets; on days like those, the guilt is consuming. 

Deep down, Kurapika knows that Leorio deserves better. He’s fully aware of the fact that Leorio and their baby and their countless friends all deserve so much more than he can offer. Because really, how much can he give? How much is he able to provide for his family, when he can barely provide for himself? Sure, finances really aren’t an issue (Leorio is a doctor, and becoming head of the Nostrade family didn’t exactly hurt Kurapika’s bank account), but emotionally? Kurapika is convinced that they would garner more sympathy from a rock. 

And  _ still,  _ Leorio picks him. Leorio chooses him every day when they wake up in their shared bed, their child cooing happily from her crib as she blows messy spit bubbles and gurgles up at them; Leorio chooses him when he tucks him against his chest as the smaller hours of the night grow large, and when Kurapika wakes in a cold sweat, his body trembling and his breathing torn and ragged; Leorio continues to choose him, even when he is truly useless and does nothing but cause destruction to both himself and his loved ones, even when his temperament is cold and his words are clipped and brutal. 

Leorio is all warmth and enveloping embraces and the almost smoky scent of something that Kurapika can’t quite place, and its entirely perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> hi i posted this from my phone after gym class i hate it here


End file.
